Erosion Of Loyalty (Part 1 of 6): What Erosion?
EROSION TRENDS
Distrust is Higher Than Ever
While loyalty within traditional institutions such as religion, marriage and political party alignment have been eroding, distrust in the mainstream media has been on the rise and as a result, has trickled down to brands and companies. Along with economic and social variables, this created the decline in brand loyalty. Without trust, customer loyalty is harder to retain.
Let's dig into why this is happening.
WHY IS BRAND LOYALTY ERODING
Bigger Brand, Bigger Trust Issues
Big businesses face wide public scrutiny for their decisions, especially when executives forget their audience and place profit over the customer experience. Outsourcing customer service representatives, intrusive advertisements and even “Big Data” breaches all fly in the face of serving customers.
Actions around decisions (or indecisions) in quality, price increases, social injustices, and poor customer experiences spread quicker and louder than ever, especially through word-of-mouth on social media. Sometimes the negative attention goes viral, and the public can collectively stop trusting even the most major brands.
Small Brands, Local Brands and Online Brands, Oh My!
Since online shopping options boomed during the pandemic, storefronts gained intense competition from online retailers causing many to close, some permanently. The shift to online shopping has exposed consumers to alternative brands through search engine algorithms, review-based platforms and popular bloggers. Smaller online businesses have had a chance to step in and replace bigger competitors.
DEEP DISCONNECT
Old Ways Don’t Cut It in a New World
People are no longer loyal to specific brands; they're loyal to what works for them on their terms.
Since discovering alternative solutions to their product and service needs, many U.S. consumers plan to stick with new shopping behaviors post-pandemic. Marketing teams from both smaller agencies or larger corporations have had to search for creative ways to connect or reconnect with their audiences.
Overwhelming Tech
Many companies over the last decade have been pressured into becoming more technologically advanced. A digital transformation can be overwhelming to brands, especially from a cost standpoint. The most successful agency/client collaborations stem from a shared conviction that digital media contributes deeply to a brand’s overall holistic business.
THE NEW NORMAL
The COVID-19 Pandemic along with civil rights movements and political discord have redefined what “normal” means. To protect themselves and their mental health, people are making radically different financial choices, leaving it up to marketers, businesses and brands to re-think how their products or services can fit into the new normal.
Look out for our second installment of the Erosion of Loyalty Series on Thursday, October 13!
Have questions about keeping your marketing from eroding?
Talk to Mike Pocci, Executive Director/Connections at mpocci@teamaftermath.com.